Systems and methods for promoting game play frequency

ABSTRACT

The present invention provides methods, systems and apparatus for promoting game play frequency of online games. Embodiments include displaying a plurality of positioned game elements, wherein each positioned game element is associated with a game time period; displaying a game indicia associated with a positioned game element if a player has acquired a game piece during the game time period associated with the positioned game element; selecting one or more positioned game elements after a game duration; and awarding one or more prizes if the selected positioned game elements are associated with a game indicia. Numerous additional aspects are disclosed.

PRIORITY CLAIM

The present application claims the benefit of priority of U.S.Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 61/786,312, filed Mar. 15, 2013in the name of Hans Elias et al. and is entitled “SYSTEMS AND METHODSFOR PROMOTING GAME PLAY FREQUENCY.” The entirety of this provisionalapplication is incorporated by reference herein for all purposes.

FIELD

Embodiments of the present invention are related to online games, andmore particularly to systems and methods for promoting game playfrequency of online and other games.

BACKGROUND

Revenue from online gaming systems can be based upon the number ofplayers and the amount and/or frequency of play. Thus, online gamingsystems benefit from players being active on the systems and returningto play as frequently as possible. While incentive systems are known forencouraging playing for longer periods, what is needed are systems andmethods for promoting game play frequency of online games.

SUMMARY

In some aspects, embodiments of the present invention provide a methodof promoting game play frequency of online and other games. The methodincludes displaying a plurality of positioned game elements, whereineach positioned game element is associated with a game time period;displaying a game indicia associated with a positioned game element if aplayer has acquired a game piece during the game time period associatedwith the positioned game element; selecting one or more positioned gameelements after a game duration; and awarding one or more prizes if theselected positioned game elements are associated with a game indicia.

In some other aspects, embodiments of the present invention provide asystem for promoting game play frequency of online and other games. Thesystem includes a processor; and a memory storing instructions, theinstructions adapted to execute on the processor to: display a pluralityof positioned game elements, wherein each positioned game element isassociated with a game time period; display a game indicia associatedwith a positioned game element if a game piece is acquired during thegame time period associated with the positioned game element; select oneor more positioned game elements after a game duration; and award one ormore prizes if the selected positioned game elements are associated witha game indicia.

In yet other aspects, embodiments of the present invention provide analternative method for promoting game play frequency of online and othergames. The alternative method includes displaying a plurality ofpositioned game elements, wherein each positioned game element isassociated with a game time period; providing a free-to-play gamewherein a player can acquire a game piece during each game time period;displaying a game indicia associated with a positioned game element ifthe player has acquired a game piece during the game time periodassociated with the positioned game element; selecting one or morepositioned game elements after a game duration; and awarding one or moreprizes if the selected positioned game elements are associated with agame indicia, wherein the prizes are associated with a pay-to-play game.

Numerous other aspects are provided in accordance with these and otherembodiments of the invention. Other features and aspects of embodimentsof the present invention will become more fully apparent from thefollowing detailed description, the appended claims, and theaccompanying drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of an embodiment of a distributedcomputing system in accordance with one or more embodiments describedherein.

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of an embodiment of a distributedcomputing platform in accordance with one or more embodiments describedherein.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of an embodiment of a computing device usefulin a system according to one or more embodiments described herein.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram depicting an example of a game interfacelayout during a first stage of game play according to one or moreembodiments described herein.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram depicting an example of a game interfacelayout during a second stage of game play according to one or moreembodiments described herein.

FIG. 6 is a block diagram depicting an example of a game interfacelayout during a third stage of game play according to one or moreembodiments described herein.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart illustrating an example method of promoting gameplay frequency according to one or more embodiments described herein.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF EXAMPLE EMBODIMENTS

Embodiments presented herein are descriptive of systems, apparatus,methods, and articles of manufacture for promoting game play frequencyof online or other games. According to some embodiments of the presentinvention, an online gaming website provides a “free-to-play” game thatcan award prizes that can be related to the website's main “pay-to-play”games. In a daily free-to-play game example, players are encouraged tocome to the gaming website each day to play a game in which the playerscollect symbols in exchange for accessing the gaming website orperforming some other task. For example, the more days a player accessesthe website, the more symbols or game indicia the player collects. Themore symbols a player collects, the higher the chance the player willwin a prize at the end of the game time period. Different symbols can becollected on different days and, in some embodiments, different symbolsresult in different prizes. In some embodiments, the prizes are freeplays of the website's main pay-to-play games. Thus, embodiments of thepresent invention can provide an incentive to a player to access thegaming website daily to see if the player will win free play of thewebsite's games or other prizes. Other access or play frequencies (e.g.,number of free play opportunities per game time period) can be used, forexample, hourly, two times daily, four times daily, ten times weekly,fifty times monthly, etc. In some embodiments, merely accessing thegaming website can earn the player a symbol and in other embodiments,the player may be asked, for example, to spin a virtual reel of agraphical user interface (GUI) control to see if or what symbol theplayer earns.

According to some embodiments, the free-to-play game provides a gamegrid or other arrangement of positioned game elements and the playerselects one or more game elements to reveal a hidden symbol at theselected position. In some embodiments, the grid or other arrangement ismaintained throughout a set game time period (e.g., a week, two weeks, amonth, two months, six months, a year, etc.) and may be reset at the endof the game time period (e.g., after the final day of a week). Thus,according to some embodiments, free-to-play games can include a gametime period that defines the amount of time available to play the gamesand a play frequency which defines how often the game can be playedduring the game time period. In some embodiments, a third parameter canbe defined, called the game duration, which specifies a number of gametime periods for a game. Thus, for example, a free-to-play game can havea game time period of one day with a game play frequency of once pergame time period (i.e., daily) and a game duration of a month. In someother embodiments for example, the game play frequency can be threetimes per game time period, the game time period can be twelve hours,and the game duration can be a week. In such an example, players wouldhave thirty-five opportunities for free play during the week long gameduration.

Thus, a daily free-to-play game such as the type described above can bemodified to include other time-based elements in the game such as gameduration. For example, as mentioned above, a monthly duration can beadded to a daily game. A monthly duration can encourage players to comeback daily on as many days as possible because each day the playersreturn to play, the players can earn a game indicia to cover or mark acorresponding position on a secondary game grid. In some embodiments, aprimary free-to-play game may award instant prizes and a secondaryfree-to-play game may award game indicia for the secondary game forwhich an outcome is determined at the end of the game duration. Forexample, each position on the secondary game grid can be representativeof a day of the month (or the defined duration of the secondary game).At the end of the month, the secondary game is played out, for example,as players are presented with a visual display of one or more positionson the secondary game grid being randomly or otherwise selected.

According to some embodiments, if a player has a game indicia covering asystem-selected grid position (e.g., the player played the daily game onthe day corresponding to the selected grid position), the player can beawarded a prize or other reward. For example, the reward may include achance at winning one or more monthly prizes, cash, a “free spin” in thepay-to-play game, or the like. In some embodiments, the player isalternatively or additionally given the option to reveal a potentialprize hidden behind the game indicia on the selected grid position todetermine if the player has won a prize.

In some embodiments, if the player's grid did not have a game indicia atthe system selected grid position (e.g., because the player did not playon the day the selected grid positions represents), in some embodimentsthe player does not get an opportunity to win (e.g., the player has azero percent chance of winning) and is therefore not given the option toreveal a potential prize hidden at that position. In some embodiments,multiple grid positions can be selected by the system and/or multipleprizes can be awarded for each grid position covered by a player's gameindicia.

According to some embodiments, players may be rewarded with multipliersand/or extra wins (e.g., for use in a daily game and/or monthly game)for playing a first game (e.g., a daily game) on one or more specialdays (e.g., as defined by the system). For example, players may winspecial day multipliers and/or extra wins for playing a daily game onspecifically defined special days (e.g., on a particular day of theweek, or during a particular month).

According to some embodiments, players may be rewarded with multipliers,extra wins and/or other types of benefits for playing a first game(e.g., a daily game) at least a predetermined minimum number times in arow (e.g., as defined by the system). In one example, if a player playsa daily game on at least a minimum number of consecutive days (e.g., theplayer plays on each of seven (7) days in a row), the player may beawarded with a multiplier applicable to any prizes won in a second gamebased on those consecutive plays of the daily game.

In alternative embodiments, a player is allowed to cover a number ofgrid positions at the beginning of a game duration. The number of gridpositions a player is allowed to cover can be determined randomly aspart of an initial part of the free-to-play game, the number can be apredefined fixed number, or, in some embodiments, the number can bebased upon a frequency of play by the player during a prior gameduration. In any event, the player covered grid positions are subjectedto being eliminated or discarded by the system during the duration ofthe game. In some embodiments, the player can improve the chances of hiscovered grid positions not being eliminated by accessing the game duringthe duration to earn protection for the covered positions. In someembodiments, the players who return daily can earn a movement abilitythat allows the player to move the covered positions toward otherpositions (e.g., “safe” positions). The player covered grid positionsthat survive throughout the duration (e.g., are not eliminated by thesystem) can provide the player with an opportunity to win a prize oractually provide the player with a prize.

DEFINITIONS

Throughout the description that follows and unless otherwise specified,the following terms may include and/or encompass the example meaningsprovided in this section. These terms and illustrative example meaningsare provided to clarify the language selected to describe embodimentsboth in the specification and in the appended claims, and accordingly,are not intended to be limiting. Other terms are defined throughout thepresent description.

A “game”, as the term is used herein (unless specified otherwise), maygenerally comprise any game (e.g., wagering or non-wagering,electronically playable over a network) playable by one or more playersin accordance with specified rules. A game may be playable on a PersonalComputer (PC) online in web browsers, on a game console and/or on amobile device such as a smart-phone or tablet computer. “Gaming” thusgenerally refers to play of a game.

A “round of a game”, “a game play”, or a “game instance of a game”, asthe terms are used herein (unless specified otherwise), are intended tobe synonymous and may general refer to an event or set of events uponthe conclusion of which a result is determined. A round of a game mayinclude several turns of a player. A hand of poker is an example of around of a game. Note that a round of a game may be distinguished from around of betting in that there may be several rounds of betting in asingle round of a game.

A “casual game”, as the term is used herein (unless specifiedotherwise), may generally comprise a game with simple rules with littleor no time commitment on the time of a player to play. A casual game mayfeature, for example, very simple game play such as a puzzle orScrabble™ game, may allow for short bursts of play (e.g., during workbreaks), an ability to quickly reach a final stage and/or continuousplay without a need to save the game. In some embodiments, a casual gamecan be a social network game.

A “social network game”, as used herein (unless specified otherwise),generally refers to a type of online game that is played through asocial network, and in some embodiments may feature multiplayer andasynchronous game play mechanics. A “social network” may refer to anonline service, online community, platform, or site that focuses onfacilitating the building of social networks or social relations amongpeople. A social network service may, for example, consist of arepresentation of each user (often a profile), his/her social links, anda variety of additional services. A social network may be web-based andprovide means for users to interact over the Internet, such as e-mailand instant messaging. A social network game may in some embodiments beimplemented as a browser game, but can also be implemented on otherplatforms such as mobile devices.

A “wagering game”, as the term is used herein (unless specifiedotherwise), may generally comprise a game on which a player can risk awager or other consideration, such as, but not limited to: slot games,poker games, blackjack, baccarat, craps, roulette, lottery, bingo, keno,casino war, etc. A wager may comprise a monetary wager in the form of anamount of currency or any other tangible or intangible article havingsome value which may be risked on an outcome of a wagering game.“Gambling” or “wagering” generally refers to play of a wagering game.

A “pay-to-play game”, as the term is used herein (unless specifiedotherwise), may generally include any game, including wagering games, inwhich a fee is charged to play the game. The fee may be in the form ofan access fee, a wager, a buy-in, or any other practicable form. The feemay be collected before, after, or during game play. The fee may bemonetary or paid in any other form of value.

A “free-to-play game”, as the term is used herein (unless specifiedotherwise), may generally include any game, including wagering games, inwhich a fee is not charged to play the game. The game may award prizesthat include cash payouts or other forms of monetary or other value.

The term “game provider”, as used herein (unless specified otherwise),generally refers to an entity or system of components which providesgames for play and facilitates play of such game by use of a networksuch as the Internet or a proprietary or closed networks (e.g., anintranet or wide area network). For example, a game provider may operatea website which provides games in a digital format over the Internet. Insome embodiments in which a game comprising a wagering game is provided,a game provider may operate a gambling website over which wagers areaccepted and results of wagering games are provided.

As utilized herein, the term “player” may generally refer to any type,quantity, and or manner of entity associated with the play of a game. Insome embodiments, a player may comprise an entity conducting play of anonline game, for example, may comprise an entity that desires to play agame (e.g., an entity registered and/or scheduled to play and/or anentity having expressed interest in the play of the game—e.g., aspectator) and/or may comprise an entity that configures, manages,and/or conducts a game. A player may be currently playing a game or havepreviously played the game, or may not yet have initiated play—i.e., a“player” may comprise a “potential player” (e.g., in general and/or withrespect to a specific game). In some embodiments, a player may comprisea user of an interface (e.g., whether or not such a player participatesin a game or seeks to participate in the game). In some embodiments, aplayer may comprise an individual (or group) that enters, joins, logsinto, registers for, and/or otherwise access an online game room,session, server, and/or other particular instance and/or segmentation ofan online game.

Some embodiments described herein are associated with a “player device”or a “network device”. As used herein, a “player device” is a subset ofa “network device”. The “network device”, for example, may generallyrefer to any device that can communicate via a network, while the“player device” may comprise a network device that is owned and/oroperated by or otherwise associated with a player. Examples of playerand/or network devices may include, but are not limited to: a PersonalComputer (PC), a computer workstation, a computer server, a printer, ascanner, a facsimile machine, a copier, a Personal Digital Assistant(PDA), a storage device (e.g., a disk drive), a hub, a router, a switch,and a modem, a video game console, or a wireless or cellular telephone.Player and/or network devices may, in some embodiments, comprise one ormore network components.

As used herein, the term “network component” may refer to a player ornetwork device, or a component, piece, portion, or combination of playeror network devices. Examples of network components may include a StaticRandom Access Memory (SRAM) device or module, a network processor, and anetwork communication path, connection, port, or cable.

In addition, some embodiments are associated with a “network” or a“communication network.” As used herein, the terms “network” and“communication network” may be used interchangeably and may refer to anyobject, entity, component, device, and/or any combination thereof thatpermits, facilitates, and/or otherwise contributes to or is associatedwith the transmission of messages, packets, signals, and/or other formsof information between and/or within one or more network devices.Networks may be or include a plurality of interconnected networkdevices. In some embodiments, networks may be hard-wired, wireless,virtual, neural, and/or any other configuration or type that is orbecomes known. Communication networks may include, for example, devicesthat communicate directly or indirectly, via a wired or wireless mediumsuch as the Internet, intranet, a Local Area Network (LAN), a Wide AreaNetwork (WAN), a cellular telephone network, a Bluetooth® network, aNear-Field Communication (NFC) network, a Radio Frequency (RF) network,a Virtual Private Network (VPN), Ethernet (or IEEE 802.3), Token Ring,or via any appropriate communications means or combination ofcommunications means. Exemplary protocols include but are not limitedto: Bluetooth™, Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA), Code DivisionMultiple Access (CDMA), Global System for Mobile communications (GSM),Enhanced Data rates for GSM Evolution (EDGE), General Packet RadioService (GPRS), Wideband CDMA (WCDMA), Advanced Mobile Phone System(AMPS), Digital AMPS (D-AMPS), IEEE 802.11 (WI-FI), IEEE 802.3, SAP, thebest of breed (BOB), and/or system to system (S2S).

As used herein, the terms “information” and “data” may be usedinterchangeably and may refer to any data, text, voice, video, image,message, bit, packet, pulse, tone, waveform, and/or other type orconfiguration of signal and/or information. Information may compriseinformation packets transmitted, for example, in accordance with theInternet Protocol Version 6 (IPv6) standard. Information may, accordingto some embodiments, be compressed, encoded, encrypted, and/or otherwisepackaged or manipulated in accordance with any method that is or becomesknown or practicable.

The term “indication”, as used herein (unless specified otherwise), maygenerally refer to any indicia and/or other information indicative of orassociated with a subject, item, entity, and/or other object and/oridea. As used herein, the phrases “information indicative of” and“indicia” may be used to refer to any information that represents,describes, and/or is otherwise associated with a related entity,subject, or object. Indicia of information may include, for example, acode, a reference, a link, a signal, an identifier, and/or anycombination thereof and/or any other informative representationassociated with the information. In some embodiments, indicia ofinformation (or indicative of the information) may be or include theinformation itself and/or any portion or component of the information.In some embodiments, an indication may include a request, asolicitation, a broadcast, and/or any other form of informationgathering and/or dissemination.

A “session”, as the term is used herein (unless indicated otherwise),may generally comprise a period of time spanning a plurality of eventinstances or turns of the game, the session having a defined start anddefined end. An event instance or turn is triggered upon an initiationof, or request for, at least one result of the game by a player, such asan actuation of a “start” or “spin” mechanism, which initiation causesan outcome to be determined or generated (e.g., a random numbergenerator is contacted or communicated with to identify, generate ordetermine a random number to be used to determine a result for the eventinstance).

As used herein, the terms “outcome” and “result” should bedifferentiated in the present description in that an “outcome” isgenerally a representation of a “result”, typically comprising one ormore game elements or game symbols. For example, in a “fruit themed”game, a winning outcome (i.e., an outcome corresponding to some kind ofaward, prize or payout) may comprise a combination of three “cherry”symbols. The “result” of this outcome may be a payout of X creditsawarded to the player associated with the game. In another example, in agame in which a character moves along a game interface from a startingposition to a finish position, an “outcome” of the game may comprise asymbol representing one or more movements along the interface and the“result” corresponding to this outcome may be the particular number anddirection of the character's movement (e.g., three (3) spaces backwardssuch that the character ends up further away from the finish line). In asession embodiment, a session result may comprise a binary result (e.g.,a player or game character wins or loses the session) and/or theparticular award (or magnitude of award) won or earned by the playerbased on the session (e.g., the number of credits awarded to theplayer). It should be noted that the embodiments described hereinencompass awards, prizes and payouts which are monetary, non-monetary,tangible or intangible.

As used herein, the term “virtual currency” may generally refer to anin-game currency that may be used as part of a game or one or more gamesprovided by a game provider as (i) currency for making wagers, and/or(ii) to purchase or access various in-game items, features or powers.

A “credit balance”, as the term is used herein (unless indicatedotherwise), may generally refer to (i) a balance of currency, whethervirtual currency and/or real currency, usable for making wagers in agame and/or (ii) another tracking mechanism for tracking a player'ssuccess or advancement in a game by deducting there from points or valuefor unsuccessful attempts at advancement and adding thereto points orvalue for successful attempts at advancement.

The terms “computer-readable medium” and “computer-readable memory”refer to any medium that participates in providing data (e.g.,instructions) that may be read by a computer and/or a processor. Such amedium may take many forms, including but not limited to non-volatilemedia, volatile media, and other specific types of transmission media.Non-volatile media include, for example, optical or magnetic disks andother persistent memory. Volatile media include DRAM, which typicallyconstitutes the main memory. Other types of transmission media includecoaxial cables, copper wire, and fiber optics, including the wires thatcomprise a system bus coupled to the processor.

Common forms of computer-readable media include, for example, a floppydisk, a flexible disk, hard disk, magnetic tape, any other magneticmedium, a CD-ROM, Digital Video Disc (DVD), any other optical medium,punch cards, paper tape, any other physical medium with patterns ofholes, a RAM, a PROM, an EPROM, a FLASH-EEPROM, a USB memory stick, adongle, any other memory chip or cartridge, a carrier wave, or any othermedium from which a computer can read. The terms “computer-readablemedium” and/or “tangible media” specifically exclude signals, waves, andwave forms or other intangible or transitory media that may neverthelessbe readable by a computer.

Various forms of computer-readable media may be involved in carryingsequences of instructions to a processor. For example, sequences ofinstruction (i) may be delivered from RAM to a processor, (ii) may becarried over a wireless transmission medium, and/or (iii) may beformatted according to numerous formats, standards or protocols. For amore exhaustive list of protocols, the term “network” is defined aboveand includes many exemplary protocols that are also applicable here.

In some embodiments, one or more specialized machines such as acomputerized processing device, a server, a remote terminal, and/or acustomer device may implement the various practices described herein. Acomputer system of an gaming entity may, for example, comprise variousspecialized computers that interact to provide for online games asdescribed herein.

As used herein, the terms “information” and “data” may be usedinterchangeably and may refer to any data, text, voice, video, image,message, bit, packet, pulse, tone, waveform, and/or other type orconfiguration of signal and/or information. Information may compriseinformation packets transmitted, for example, in accordance with theInternet Protocol Version 6 (IPv6) standard. Information may, accordingto some embodiments, be compressed, encoded, encrypted, and/or otherwisepackaged or manipulated in accordance with any method that is or becomesknown or practicable.

Systems

Turning first to FIG. 1, a block diagram of an example system 100according to some embodiments is shown. The example system 100 isadapted to implement the methods of the present invention. In someembodiments, the system 100 may comprise a gaming platform such as agaming platform via which one or more multiplayer and/or online gamesmay be played. In some embodiments, the system 100 may comprise aplurality of player devices 102 a-n in communication with and/or via anetwork 104. In some embodiments, a game server 110 may be incommunication with the network 104 and/or one or more of the playerdevices 102 a-n. In some embodiments, the game server 110 (and/or theplayer devices 102 a-n) may be in communication with a database 140. Thedatabase 140 may store, for example, game date (e.g., processed and/ordefined by the game server 110), data associated with players (notexplicitly shown) owning and/or operating the player devices 102 a-n,and/or instructions that cause various devices (e.g., the game server110 and/or the player devices 102 a-n) to operate in accordance withembodiments described herein.

According to some embodiments, any or all of the components 102 a-n,104, 110, 140 of the system 100 may be similar in configuration and/orfunctionality to any similarly named and/or numbered componentsdescribed herein. Fewer or more components 102 a-n, 104, 110, 140(and/or portions thereof) and/or various configurations of thecomponents 102 a-n, 104, 110, 140 may be included in the system 100without deviating from the scope of embodiments described herein. Whilemultiple instances of some components 102 a-n are depicted and whilesingle instances of other components 104, 110, 140 are depicted, forexample, any component 102 a-n, 104, 110, 140 depicted in the system 100may comprise a single device, a combination of devices and/or components102 a-n, 104, 110, 140, and/or a plurality of devices, as is or becomesdesirable and/or practicable. Similarly, in some embodiments, one ormore of the various components 102 a-n, 104, 110, 140 may not be neededand/or desired in the system 100.

The player devices 102 a-n, in some embodiments, may comprise any typeor configuration of electronic, mobile electronic, and or other networkand/or communication devices (or combinations thereof) that are orbecome known or practicable. A first player device 102 a may, forexample, comprise one or more PC devices, computer workstations (e.g.,game consoles and/or gaming computers), tablet computers, such as aniPad® manufactured by Apple®, Inc. of Cupertino, Calif., and/or cellularand/or wireless telephones such as an iPhone® (also manufactured byApple®, Inc.) or an Optimus™ S smart phone manufactured by LG®Electronics, Inc. of San Diego, Calif., and running the Android®operating system from Google®, Inc. of Mountain View, Calif. In someembodiments, one or more of the player devices 102 a-n may bespecifically utilized and/or configured (e.g., via specially-programmedand/or stored instructions such as may define or comprise a softwareapplication) to communicate with the game server 110 (e.g., via thenetwork 104).

The network 104 may, according to some embodiments, comprise a LAN, WAN,cellular telephone network, Bluetooth® network, NFC network, and/or RFnetwork with communication links between the player devices 102 a-n, thegame server 110, and/or the database 140. In some embodiments, thenetwork 104 may comprise direct communications links between any or allof the components 102 a-n, 110, 140 of the system 100. The game server110 may, for example, be directly interfaced or connected to thedatabase 140 via one or more wires, cables, wireless links, and/or othernetwork components, such network components (e.g., communication links)comprising portions of the network 104. In some embodiments, the network104 may comprise one or many other links or network components otherthan those depicted in FIG. 1. A second player device 102 b may, forexample, be connected to the game server 110 via various cell towers,routers, repeaters, ports, switches, and/or other network componentsthat comprise the Internet and/or a cellular telephone (and/or PublicSwitched Telephone Network (PSTN)) network, and which comprise portionsof the network 104.

While the network 104 is depicted in FIG. 1 as a single object, thenetwork 104 may comprise any number, type, and/or configuration ofnetworks that is or becomes known or practicable. According to someembodiments, the network 104 may comprise a conglomeration of differentsub-networks and/or network components interconnected, directly orindirectly, by the components 102 a-n, 110, 140 of the system 100. Thenetwork 104 may comprise one or more cellular telephone networks withcommunication links between the player devices 102 a-n and the gameserver 110, for example, and/or may comprise the Internet, withcommunication links between the player devices 102 a-n and the database140, for example.

According to some embodiments, the game server 110 may comprise a device(and/or system) owned and/or operated by or on behalf of or for thebenefit of a gaming entity (not explicitly shown). The gaming entity mayutilize player and/or game information or instructions (e.g., stored bythe database 140), in some embodiments, to host, manage, analyze,design, define, price, conduct, and/or otherwise provide (or cause to beprovided) one or more games such as online multiplayer games. In someembodiments, the gaming entity (and/or a third-party; not explicitlyshown) may provide an interface (not shown in FIG. 1) to and/or via theplayer devices 102 a-n. The interface may be configured, according tosome embodiments, to allow and/or facilitate electronic game play by oneor more players. In some embodiments, the system 100 (and/or interfaceprovided by the game server 110) may present game data (e.g., from thedatabase 140) in such a manner that allows players to participate in oneor more online games (singularly, in/with groups, and/or otherwise).According to some embodiments, the game server 110 may provide benefitsto players based on player referrals and/or based on groups of playersthat play together in an online multiplayer game.

In some embodiments, the database 140 may comprise any type,configuration, and/or quantity of data storage devices that are orbecome known or practicable. The database 140 may, for example, comprisean array of optical and/or solid-state hard drives configured to storeplayer and/or game data, and/or various operating instructions, drivers,etc. While the database 140 is depicted as a stand-alone component ofthe system 100 in FIG. 1, the database 140 may comprise multiplecomponents. In some embodiments, a multi-component database 140 may bedistributed across various devices and/or may comprise remotelydispersed components. Any or all of the player devices 102 a-n maycomprise the database 140 or a portion thereof, for example, and/or thegame server 110 may comprise the database 140 or a portion thereof.

Referring now to FIG. 2, a block diagram of a system 200 according tosome embodiments is shown. In some embodiments, the system 200 maycomprise a gaming platform such as a platform via which social,multiplayer, and/or online games may be played. In some embodiments, thesystem 200 may comprise a plurality of player devices 202 a-n, theInternet 204, a load balancer 206, and/or a game server cluster 210. Thegame server cluster 210 may, in some embodiments, comprise a pluralityof game servers 210 a-n. In some embodiments, the system 200 maycomprise a cache persistor 220, a Simple Queuing Service (SQS) device222, a task scheduler 224, an e-mail service device 226, and/or a queryservice device 228. As depicted in FIG. 2, any or all of the variouscomponents 202 a-n, 204, 206, 210 a-n, 220, 222, 224, 226, 228 may be incommunication with and/or coupled to one or more databases 240 a-f Thesystem 200 may comprise, for example, a dynamic DataBase (DB) 240 a, acloud-based cache cluster 240 b (e.g., comprising a game state cache 240b-1, a slot state cache 240 b-2, and/or a “hydra” cache 240 b-3), anon-relational DB 240 c, a remote DB service 240 d, a persistence DB 240e, and/or a reporting DB 240 f.

According to some embodiments, any or all of the components 202 a-n,204, 206, 210 a-n, 220, 222, 224, 226, 228, 240 a-f of the system 200may be similar in configuration and/or functionality to any similarlynamed and/or numbered components described herein. Fewer or morecomponents 202 a-n, 204, 206, 210 a-n, 220, 222, 224, 226, 228, 240 a-f(and/or portions thereof) and/or various configurations of thecomponents 202 a-n, 204, 206, 210 a-n, 220, 222, 224, 226, 228, 240 a-fmay be included in the system 200 without deviating from the scope ofembodiments described herein. While multiple instances of somecomponents 202 a-n, 210 a-n, 240 a-f are depicted and while singleinstances of other components 204, 206, 220, 222, 224, 226, 228 aredepicted, for example, any component 202 a-n, 204, 206, 210 a-n, 220,222, 224, 226, 228, 240 a-f depicted in the system 200 may comprise asingle device, a combination of devices and/or components 202 a-n, 204,206, 210 a-n, 220, 222, 224, 226, 228, 240 a-f, and/or a plurality ofdevices, as is or becomes desirable and/or practicable. Similarly, insome embodiments, one or more of the various components 202 a-n, 204,206, 210 a-n, 220, 222, 224, 226, 228, 240 a-f may not be needed and/ordesired in the system 200.

According to some embodiments, the player devices 202 a-n may beutilized to access (e.g., via the Internet 204 and/or one or more othernetworks not explicitly shown) content provided by the game servercluster 210. The game server cluster 210 may, for example, provide,manage, host, and/or conduct various online and/or otherwise electronicgames such as online bingo, slots, poker, and/or other games of chance,skill, and/or combinations thereof. In some embodiments, the variousgame servers 210 a-n (virtual and/or physical) of the game servercluster 210 may be configured to provide, manage, host, and/or conductindividual instances and/or sessions of available game types. A firstgame server 210 a, for example, may host a first particular session ofan online bingo game (or tournament), a second game server 210 c mayhost a second particular session of an online bingo game (ortournament), a third game server 210 c may facilitate an online pokertournament (e.g., and a corresponding plurality of game sessions thatcomprise the tournament), and/or a fourth game server 210 d may providean online slots game (e.g., by hosting one or more slot game sessions).

In some embodiments, the player devices 202 a-n may comprise variouscomponents (hardware, firmware, and/or software; not explicitly shown)that facilitate game play and/or interaction with the game servercluster 210. The player device 202 a-n may, for example, comprise agaming client such as a software application programmed in Adobe® Flash®and/or HTML 5 that is configured to send requests to, and receiveresponses from, one or more of the game servers 210 a-n of the gameserver cluster 210. In some embodiments, such an application operatingon and/or via the player devices 202 a-n may be configured inModel-View-Controller (MVC) architecture with a communication managerlayer responsible for managing the requests to/responses from the gameserver cluster 210. In some embodiments, one or more of the game servers210 a-n may also or alternatively be configured in a MVC architecturewith a communication manager and/or communications management layer (notexplicitly shown in FIG. 2). In some embodiments, communications betweenthe player devices 202 a-n and the game server cluster 210 may beconducted in accordance with the HyperText Transfer Protocol (HTTP)version 1.1 (HTTP/1.1) as published by the Internet EngineeringTaskforce (IET) and the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) in RFC 2616(June 1999).

According to some embodiments, communications between the player devices202 a-n and the game server cluster 210 may be managed and/orfacilitated by the load balancer 206. The load balancer 206 may, forexample, route communications from player devices 202 a-n to one or moreof the specific game servers 210 a-n depending upon various attributesand/or variables such as bandwidth availability (e.g., trafficmanagement/volumetric load balancing), server load (e.g., processingload balancing), server functionality (e.g., contextualawareness/availability), and/or player-server history (e.g., sessionawareness/“stickiness”). In some embodiments, the load balancer 206 maycomprise one or more devices and/or services provided by a third-party(not separately shown in FIG. 2). The load balancer 206 may, forexample, comprise an Elastic Load Balancer (ELB) service provided byAmazon® Web Services, LLC of Seattle, Wash. According to someembodiments, such as in the case that the load balancer 206 comprisesthe ELB or a similar service, the load balancer 206 may manage, set,determine, define, and/or otherwise influence the number of game servers210 a-n within the game server cluster 210. In the case that trafficand/or requests from the player devices 202 a-n only require the firstand second game servers 210 a-b, for example, all other game servers 210c-n may be taken off-line, may not be initiated and/or called, and/ormay otherwise not be required and/or utilized in the system 200. Asdemand increases (and/or if performance, security, and/or other issuescause one or more of the first and second game servers 210 a-b toexperience detrimental issues), the load balancer 206 may call and/orbring online one or more of the other game servers 210 c-n depicted inFIG. 2. In the case that each game server 210 a-n comprises an instanceof an Amazon® Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2) service, the load balancer 206may add or remove instances as is or becomes practicable and/ordesirable.

In some embodiments, the load balancer 206 and/or the Internet 204 maycomprise one or more proxy servers and/or devices (not shown in FIG. 2)via which communications between the player devices 202 a-n and the gameserver cluster 210 are conducted and/or routed. Such proxy serversand/or devices may comprise one or more regional game hosting centers,for example, which may be geographically dispersed and addressable byplayer devices 202 a-n in a given geographic proximity. In someembodiments, the proxy servers and/or devices may be located in one ormore geographic areas and/or jurisdictions while the game server cluster210 (and/or certain game servers 210 a-n and/or groups of game servers210 a-n thereof) is located in a separate and/or remote geographic areaand/or jurisdiction.

According to some embodiments, for specific game types such as bingo,the game server cluster 210 may provide game results (such as a full setof drawn bingo numbers and/or bonus metrics) to a controller device (notseparately shown in FIG. 2) that times the release of game resultinformation to the player devices 202 a-n such as by utilizing abroadcaster device (also not separately shown in FIG. 2) that transmitsthe time-released game results to the player devices 202 a-n (e.g., inaccordance with the Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) and InternetProtocol (IP) suite of communications protocols (TCP/IP), version 4, asdefined by “Transmission Control Protocol” RFC 793 and/or “InternetProtocol” RFC 791, Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA),published by the Information Sciences Institute, University of SouthernCalifornia, J. Postel, ed. (September 1981)).

In some embodiments, the game server cluster 210 (and/or one or more ofthe game servers 210 a-n thereof) may be in communication with thedynamic DB 240 a. According to some embodiments, the dynamic DB 240 amay comprise a dynamically-scalable database service such as theDyanmoDB™ service provided by Amazon® Web Services, LLC. The dynamic DB240 a may, for example, store information specific to one or morecertain game types (e.g., slots) provided by the game server cluster 210such as to allow, permit, and/or facilitate reporting and/or analysis ofsuch information.

According to some embodiments, the game server cluster 210 (and/or oneor more of the game servers 210 a-n thereof) may be in communicationwith the cloud-based cache cluster 240 b. Game state information fromthe game server cluster 210 may be stored in the game state cache 240b-1, for example, slot state (e.g., slot-game specific state) data maybe stored in the slot state cache 240 b-2, and/or other game and/orplayer information (e.g., progressive data, referral data, playerrankings, audit data) may be stored in the hydra cache 240 b-3. In someembodiments, the cache persistor 220 may move and/or copy data stored inthe cloud-based cache cluster 240 b to the non-relational DB 240 c. Thenon-relational DB 240 c may, for example, comprise a SimpleDB™ serviceprovided by Amazon® Web Services, LLC. According to some embodiments,the game server cluster 210 may generally access the cloud-based cachecluster 240 b as-needed to store and/or retrieve game-relatedinformation. The data stored in the cloud-based cache cluster 240 b maygenerally comprise a subset of the newest or freshest data, while thecache persistor 220 may archive and/or store or move such data to thenon-relational DB 240 c as it ages and/or becomes less relevant (e.g.,once a player logs-off, once a game session and/or tournament ends). Thegame server cluster 210 may, in accordance with some embodiments, haveaccess to the non-relational DB 240 c as-needed and/or desired. The gameservers 210 a-n may, for example, be initialized with data from thenon-relational DB 240 c and/or may store and/or retrieve low frequencyand/or low priority data via the non-relational DB 240 c.

In some embodiments, the SQS device 222 may queue and/or otherwisemanage requests, messages, events, and/or other tasks or calls to and/orfrom the server cluster 210. The SQS device 222 may, for example,prioritize and/or route requests between the game server cluster 210 andthe task scheduler 224. In some embodiments, the SQS device 222 mayprovide mini-game and/or tournament information to the server cluster210. According to some embodiments, the task scheduler 224 may initiatecommunications with the SQS device 222, the e-mail service provider 226(e.g., providing e-mail lists), the remote DB service 240 d (e.g.,providing inserts and/or updates), and/or the persistence DB 240 e(e.g., providing and/or updating game, player, and/or other reportingdata), e.g., in accordance with one or more schedules.

According to some embodiments, the persistence DB 240 e may comprise adata store of live environment game and/or player data. The game servercluster 210 and/or the task scheduler 224 or SQS device 222 may, forexample, store game and/or player data to the persistence DB 240 eand/or may pull and/or retrieve data from the persistence DB 240 e,as-needed and/or desired. The server cluster 210 may, according to someembodiments, provide and/or retrieve spin and/or other game event infoand/or configuration information via the persistence DB 240 e.

In some embodiments, the reporting DB 240 f may be created and/orpopulated based on the persistence DB 240 e. On a scheduled and/or otherbasis, for example, a data transformation and/or mapping program may beutilized to pull data from the live environment (e.g., the persistenceDB 240 e) into the reporting DB 240 f The query service 228 may then beutilized, for example, to query the reporting DB 240 f, without taxingthe live environment and/or production system directly accessible by thegame server cluster 210.

Turning now to FIG. 3, a block diagram of a system 300 according to someembodiments is shown. In some embodiments, the system 300 may compriseand/or define a “front-end” architecture of a gaming platform such as aplatform via which social, multiplayer, and/or online games may beplayed. In some embodiments, the system 300 may comprise a plurality ofuser devices 302 a-b, a plurality of networks 304 a-b (e.g., a primaryservice provider network 304 a, a secondary service provider network 304b, a production network 304 c, and/or a VPN 304 d), a plurality ofrouters 306 a-b, a plurality of firewall devices 308 a-b, a plurality ofgame servers 310 a-g (e.g., web servers 310 a, application servers 310b, messaging broker servers 310 c, game broadcaster servers 310 d, chatservers 310 e, database servers 310 f, and/or management and monitoringservers 310 g), and/or an application delivery controller cluster 322.

According to some embodiments, any or all of the components 302 a-b, 304a-b, 306 a-b, 308 a-b, 310 a-g, 322 of the system 300 may be similar inconfiguration and/or functionality to any similarly named and/ornumbered components described herein. Fewer or more components 302 a-b,304 a-b, 306 a-b, 308 a-b, 310 a-g, 322 (and/or portions thereof) and/orvarious configurations of the components 302 a-b, 304 a-b, 306 a-b, 308a-b, 310 a-g, 322 may be included in the system 300 without deviatingfrom the scope of embodiments described herein. While multiple instancesof some components 302 a-b, 304 a-b, 306 a-b, 308 a-b, 310 a-g aredepicted and while single instances of other components 322 aredepicted, for example, any component 302 a-b, 304 a-b, 306 a-b, 308 a-b,310 a-g, 322 depicted in the system 300 may comprise a single device, acombination of devices and/or components 302 a-b, 304 a-b, 306 a-b, 308a-b, 310 a-g, 322, and/or a plurality of devices, as is or becomesdesirable and/or practicable. Similarly, in some embodiments, one ormore of the various components 302 a-b, 304 a-b, 306 a-b, 308 a-b, 310a-g, 322 may not be needed and/or desired in the system 300.

In some embodiments, a first user device 304 a may comprise anelectronic device owned and/or operated by a player of an online game(not explicitly shown) and/or by an entity that otherwise accessesonline game content and/or services externally (e.g., requiring externallogin and/or access credentials and/or procedures). The first userdevice 304 a may, for example, be utilized to access content provided byand/or via the application delivery controller cluster 322. In someembodiments, the first user device 304 a may interface with and/orconnect to the production network 304 c via the primary service providernetwork 304 a and/or the secondary service provider network 304 b. Theprimary service provider network 304 a and the secondary serviceprovider network 304 b may, for example, load balance and/or provideredundant coverage for outage recovery by utilization of a first primaryservice provider network router 306 a-1, a second primary serviceprovider network router 306 a-2, a first secondary service providernetwork router 306 b-1, and/or a second secondary service providernetwork router 306 b-2.

According to some embodiments, the application delivery controllercluster 322 may be insulated and/or protected from the productionnetwork 304 c by an external firewall cluster 308 a. The first userdevice 304 a may, for example, be required to provide credentials toand/or otherwise access the application delivery controller cluster 322via the external firewall cluster 308 a.

In some embodiments, the application delivery controller cluster 322 mayreceive via and/or from the external firewall cluster 308 a and/or theproduction network 304 c, one or more requests, calls, transmissions,and//or commands from the first user device 304 a. The first user device304 a may, for example, submit a call for an online gaming interface tothe application delivery controller cluster 322. In some embodiments,the application delivery controller cluster 322 may comprise one or morehardware, software, and/or firmware devices and/or modules configured(e.g., specially-programmed) to route events and/or responses betweenthe first user device 304 a and one or more of the servers 310 a-g. Inthe case that the first user device 304 a is utilized to access anonline gaming interface for example, one or more of the web servers 310a (e.g., that may provide graphical and/or rendering elements for aninterface and/or other web services) and/or the application servers 310b (e.g., that may provide rule and/or logic-based programming routines,elements, and/or functions—e.g., game play engines) may be called and/ormanaged by the application delivery controller cluster 322.

In some embodiments, the messaging broker servers 310 c may receiveand/or retrieve messages from the first user device 304 a (and/or fromone or more of the other servers 310 a-b, 310 d-g) and perform one ormore inter-application processes in relation thereto. The messagingbroker servers 310 c may, for example, route, transform, consolidate,aggregate, store, augment, and/or otherwise process one or more requestsin connection with provision of online gaming services to the first userdevice 304 a (e.g., facilitating a decoupling of services provided byvarious applications on and/or from the various servers 310 a-b, 310d-g). According to some embodiments, the game broadcaster servers 310 dmay provide scheduled releases of information descriptive of an onlinegame. The game broadcaster servers 310 d may, for example, provide abroadcast feed of bingo numbers, slot and/or other random (and/orpseudo-random) number results that may be accessed by (and/ortransmitted to) the first user device 304 a (e.g., in connection withthe play of an online bingo, slots, and/or other game for whichbroadcast information may be utilized). In some embodiments, the chatservers 310 e may provide, manage, and/or facilitate communicationsbetween the first user device 304 a (and/or first user thereof) and oneor more other player/user devices (such as a second user device 302 band/or other player/user devices not shown in FIG. 3).

According to some embodiments, the second user device 304 b maygenerally comprise an electronic device owned and/or operated by a user(not shown) closely affiliated with an entity that operates the system300 (such entity also not shown). An employee (e.g., programmer and/orCustomer Service Representative (CSR)), contractor, and/or other agentof an online gaming company may, for example, utilize the second userdevice 304 b to interface with the privately-accessible VPN 304 d. TheVPN 304 d may, for example, provide direct access to the applicationservers 310 b, the database servers 310 f, the management and monitoringservers 310 g, and/or the application delivery controller cluster 322.In some embodiments (as depicted in FIG. 3), such access may be gatedthrough and/or insulated or protected by an internal firewall cluster308 b. The second user device 304 b may, for example, be required toprovide credentials to and/or otherwise access the application deliverycontroller cluster 322 and/or servers 310 a-g via the internal firewallcluster 308 b.

In some embodiments, the database servers 310 f may provide access toone or more databases and/or data stores (e.g., not shown in FIG. 3; fordata storage and/or retrieval). In some embodiments, the management andmonitoring servers 310 g may provide services such as monitoring,reporting, troubleshooting, analysis, configuring, etc. to the seconduser device 304 b. The second user device 304 b may, for example, accessthe management and monitoring servers 310 g and/or the database servers310 f to run reports descriptive of online gaming operations, game play,and/or game referral setup, management, and/or analysis. According tosome embodiments, either or both of the user devices 304 a-b inconjunction with one or more of the servers 310 a-g and/or theapplication delivery controller cluster 322 may conduct (in whole or inpart), facilitate, and/or otherwise be associated with execution of oneor more stored procedures, applications, processes, and/or methods(e.g., the methods described herein below, and/or a portion thereof).

Utilization of the term “server” with respect to the servers 310 a-g ofthe system 300 of FIG. 3 is meant solely to ease description of theconfiguration and/or functionality of the servers 310 a-g. The term“server” is not intended to be limiting with respect to any particularhardware, software, firmware, and/or quantities thereof utilized toimplement any or all of the servers 310 a-g of the system 300.Similarly, while multiple types and/or instances of the severs 310 a-gare depicted in FIG. 3, any or all of the servers 310 a-g may beimplemented in, on, and/or by one or multiple computer server(s) and/orother electronic devices.

Methods

The above described systems and apparatus are adapted to perform thefollowing methods of the present invention. In other words, for example,the user devices described above are adapted to be used by players toparticipate in online games implemented on the gaming systems alsodescribed above. It will be understood that the methods described belowcan be implemented in software (e.g., processor instructions adapted tobe executed by the systems and apparatus described above) developedusing any number of various computer languages and programing techniquessuch as object oriented programming. It will be further understood thatany of the methods can alternatively or additionally be implemented inhardware and that any particular arrangement, order, grouping, and/orstructure of hardware and software components, modules, functions,objects, and/or portions thereof described herein are merelyillustrative of example embodiments and any practicable arrangementcapable of performing the methods disclosed herein is intended to becovered by this specification. In accordance with some embodiments,methods are provided that are adapted to promote game play frequency.

Turning now to FIG. 4, an example game interface 400 is depicted as itmight be presented on a display of a player device 102 a, 102 b, 102 nas depicted in FIG. 1. The example game interface 400 can be used for afree-to-play game and includes a grid layout (e.g., a one monthcalendar) of positioned game elements (e.g., grid positions 402). Inother embodiments, the positioned game elements can be arranged in acircular, oval, triangular, hexagonal, or any other pattern. Note thatin the example embodiment, thirty grid positions 402 are depictedcorresponding to days in a month. In other embodiments, more or fewergrid positions 402 can be displayed. In addition, the grid positions 402can correspond to hours or weeks or any predefined game time period.Likewise, the number of grid positions 402 can correspond to days,weeks, years, or any game duration. The particular example interface 400corresponds to a free-to-play game with a one day game time period, aonce daily play frequency, and a duration of one month.

Within some of the grid positions 402, a game indicia 404 is depicted.The game indicia 404 can be a graphic or other symbol that represents agame piece or prize earned by or awarded to a player for simplyaccessing the game system or otherwise playing a game during aparticular game time period. For example, a player can be presented witha primary free-to-play game upon accessing the game system during aparticular game time period. If the player wins, the player can beawarded a game indicia 404 for use in a secondary free-to-play game. Insome embodiments, the game indicia 404 can be awarded for playing around or instance of a pay-to-play game during a particular game timeperiod. In other embodiments, the game indicia 404 can be awarded as aprize for collecting certain symbols, for example, on a spinning reel orother game during a particular game time period.

Regardless of how the game indicia 404 is acquired by the player, insome embodiments, the system places the game indicia 404 on a gridposition 402 that corresponds to the game time period in which theplayer acquired the game indicia 404. The example grid positions 402 inFIG. 4 are sized for a single game indicia 404, however, in otherembodiments, the grid positions 402 can be sized to allow as many gameindicia 404 as the player has acquired for the game time periodcorresponding to the grid position 402. As time passes during the gameduration (e.g., a month), the player can continue to add additional gameindicia 404 to the grid positions 402. As shown in FIG. 4, a player hasacquired game indicia on the 1^(st), 3^(rd), 5^(th), 7^(th), 9^(th),11^(th), 13^(th), 15^(th), 17^(th), 19^(th), 21^(st) and 30^(th) days ofthe month long (i.e., 30 day) game duration.

In some embodiments, once the game duration has ended, the systemreveals the “lucky days” or a selected set of positioned game elements(e.g., grid positions 402) corresponding to particular game timeperiods. FIG. 5 depicts an example game interface 500 wherein the systemhas revealed the selected grid positions 502, 504 indicated by adiagonal hatching pattern background. Selected grid positions thatincluded a game indicia 502 are depicted by an oval filed with adiagonal hatching pattern. Selected grid positions that did not includea game indicia 504 are depicted by an oval filed with a dashed hatchingpattern. Unselected grid positions that included a game indicia 506 aredepicted by an oval filed with a stippling pattern. The selection ofpositioned game elements and/or the number selected can be random orbased upon a deterministic formula selected to insure a sufficientincentive to play is awarded to players. Thus, the 3^(rd), 5^(th),6^(th), 9^(th), 10^(th), 12^(th), 18^(th), 19^(th), 21^(st), 24^(th),and 28^(th) days were the selected “lucky days” and of those days, onthe 3^(rd), 5^(th), 9^(th), 19^(th) and 21^(st) the player had acquiredgame indicia 404. Because the player did not have game indicia 404 forthe 6^(th), 10^(th), 12^(th), 18^(th), 24^(th), and 28^(th), the playermissed out on an opportunity to win prizes on those selected “luckydays.” Note that the interface 500 provides a clear indication of allthe selected days for which the player did not acquire a game indicia404. Thus, the interface 500 provides further incentive to the player toplay more frequently to gain better “coverage” of the positioned gameelements (e.g., grid positions 402).

In some embodiments, the system next reveals which, if any of theselected grid positions that included a game indicia 502 have prizes forthe player. In some embodiments, the prizes are automatically revealedto the player all at once or one at a time. In other embodiments asshown in FIG. 6, an interface 600 is provided that allows the player to“unlock” or expose the prizes he has won by providing a graphical userinterface (GUI) control that allows the user to select and open oruncover each of the selected grid positions that included a game indicia502. For example, by clicking on the selected grid positions thatincluded a game indicia 502, the player causes the interface 600 toindicate the prize, if any, the player has won in a “Prizes Won” displayfield 602 and changes the graphic representing the selected gridposition that included a game indicia 502 into an “unlocked” graphicsymbol (e.g., a key image 604). Once the player reveals all of theprizes, the system can present the player with an opportunity to use theprizes, for example in the case of “free spin” prizes, or offers theplayer a payout in the case of a cash or game credit prize. Note that insome embodiments, players can be required to establish and/or fund anaccount with the system before they are permitted to use or receivetheir prizes.

Turning now to FIG. 7, a flow chart depicting an example method ofembodiments of the present invention is provided. In some embodiments, aplurality of positioned game elements is displayed in a game interface(702). For example, the game elements can include grid positions. Eachpositioned game element can be associated with a game time period. Forexample, where the positioned game elements are grid positions, eachgrid position can represent a day of a calendar. Next, a game indiciaassociated with a positioned game element is displayed if a player hasacquired a game piece during the game time period associated with thepositioned game element (704). The system awards game pieces to playersfor each game time period (e.g., each day) if they access or play thegame during the particular game time period. A game indicia representingthe game piece is displayed on the positioned game elements (e.g., thegrid position or calendar day) that correspond to each game time period.Next, the system selects one or more positioned game elements (e.g.,calendar days) after a game duration (e.g., a month) (706). The selectedpositioned game elements are “lucky days” that will potentially beeligible for prize awards. One or more prizes are awarded to the playerby the system if the selected positioned game elements (e.g., the luckydays) are associated with a game indicia (e.g., the player acquired agame indicia on that day by accessing or playing the game) (708).

As discussed in this disclosure, awarding a prize may comprise awardingone or more multipliers, extra wins and/or other types of benefits,based on one or more of: whether the player acquired a game piece forany special game time periods and/or whether the player acquired a gamepiece for each of a minimum number of consecutive game time period(e.g., seven plays of a daily game in a row).

It should be noted that while various particular examples have beenprovided herein, the inventive concepts should not be limited to suchexamples. Other variations of the above-described embodiments would bereadily appreciated by one of ordinary skill in the art upon reading thepresent disclosure. For example,

Rules of Interpretation

Numerous embodiments are described in this disclosure, and are presentedfor illustrative purposes only. The described embodiments are not, andare not intended to be, limiting in any sense. The presently disclosedinvention(s) are widely applicable to numerous embodiments, as isreadily apparent from the disclosure. One of ordinary skill in the artwill recognize that the disclosed invention(s) may be practiced withvarious modifications and alterations, such as structural, logical,software, and electrical modifications. Although particular features ofthe disclosed invention(s) may be described with reference to one ormore particular embodiments and/or drawings, it should be understoodthat such features are not limited to usage in the one or moreparticular embodiments or drawings with reference to which they aredescribed, unless expressly specified otherwise.

The present disclosure is neither a literal description of allembodiments nor a listing of features of the invention that must bepresent in all embodiments.

The Title (set forth at the beginning of the first page of thisdisclosure) is not to be taken as limiting in any way as the scope ofthe disclosed invention(s).

The term “product” means any machine, manufacture and/or composition ofmatter as contemplated by 35 U.S.C. §101, unless expressly specifiedotherwise.

The terms “an embodiment”, “embodiment”, “embodiments”, “theembodiment”, “the embodiments”, “one or more embodiments”, “someembodiments”, “one embodiment” and the like mean “one or more (but notall) disclosed embodiments”, unless expressly specified otherwise.

The terms “the invention” and “the present invention” and the like mean“one or more embodiments of the present invention.”

A reference to “another embodiment” in describing an embodiment does notimply that the referenced embodiment is mutually exclusive with anotherembodiment (e.g., an embodiment described before the referencedembodiment), unless expressly specified otherwise.

The terms “including”, “comprising” and variations thereof mean“including but not limited to”, unless expressly specified otherwise.

The terms “a”, “an” and “the” mean “one or more”, unless expresslyspecified otherwise.

The term “and/or”, when such term is used to modify a list of things orpossibilities (such as an enumerated list of possibilities) means thatany combination of one or more of the things or possibilities isintended, such that while in some embodiments any single one of thethings or possibilities may be sufficient in other embodiments two ormore (or even each of) the things or possibilities in the list may bepreferred, unless expressly specified otherwise. Thus for example, alist of “a, b and/or c” means that any of the following interpretationswould be appropriate: (i) each of “a”, “b” and “c”; (ii) “a” and “b”;(iii) “a” and “c”; (iv) “b” and “c”; (v) only “a”; (vi) only “b”; and(vii) only “c.”

The term “plurality” means “two or more”, unless expressly specifiedotherwise.

The term “herein” means “in the present disclosure, including anythingwhich may be incorporated by reference”, unless expressly specifiedotherwise.

The phrase “at least one of”, when such phrase modifies a plurality ofthings (such as an enumerated list of things) means any combination ofone or more of those things, unless expressly specified otherwise. Forexample, the phrase at least one of a widget, a car and a wheel meanseither (i) a widget, (ii) a car, (iii) a wheel, (iv) a widget and a car,(v) a widget and a wheel, (vi) a car and a wheel, or (vii) a widget, acar and a wheel.

The phrase “based on” does not mean “based only on”, unless expresslyspecified otherwise. In other words, the phrase “based on” describesboth “based only on” and “based at least on”.

Each process (whether called a method, algorithm or otherwise)inherently includes one or more steps, and therefore all references to a“step” or “steps” of a process have an inherent antecedent basis in themere recitation of the term ‘process’ or a like term. Accordingly, anyreference in a claim to a ‘step’ or ‘steps’ of a process has sufficientantecedent basis.

When an ordinal number (such as “first”, “second”, “third” and so on) isused as an adjective before a term, that ordinal number is used (unlessexpressly specified otherwise) merely to indicate a particular feature,such as to distinguish that particular feature from another feature thatis described by the same term or by a similar term. For example, a“first widget” may be so named merely to distinguish it from, e.g., a“second widget”. Thus, the mere usage of the ordinal numbers “first” and“second” before the term “widget” does not indicate any otherrelationship between the two widgets, and likewise does not indicate anyother characteristics of either or both widgets. For example, the mereusage of the ordinal numbers “first” and “second” before the term“widget” (1) does not indicate that either widget comes before or afterany other in order or location; (2) does not indicate that either widgetoccurs or acts before or after any other in time; and (3) does notindicate that either widget ranks above or below any other, as inimportance or quality. In addition, the mere usage of ordinal numbersdoes not define a numerical limit to the features identified with theordinal numbers. For example, the mere usage of the ordinal numbers“first” and “second” before the term “widget” does not indicate thatthere must be no more than two widgets.

When a single device, component or article is described herein, morethan one device, component or article (whether or not they cooperate)may alternatively be used in place of the single device, component orarticle that is described. Accordingly, the functionality that isdescribed as being possessed by a device may alternatively be possessedby more than one device, component or article (whether or not theycooperate).

Similarly, where more than one device, component or article is describedherein (whether or not they cooperate), a single device, component orarticle may alternatively be used in place of the more than one device,component or article that is described. For example, a plurality ofcomputer-based devices may be substituted with a single computer-baseddevice. Accordingly, the various functionality that is described asbeing possessed by more than one device, component or article mayalternatively be possessed by a single device, component or article.

The functionality and/or the features of a single device that isdescribed may be alternatively embodied by one or more other devicesthat are described but are not explicitly described as having suchfunctionality and/or features. Thus, other embodiments need not includethe described device itself, but rather can include the one or moreother devices which would, in those other embodiments, have suchfunctionality/features.

Devices that are in communication with each other need not be incontinuous communication with each other, unless expressly specifiedotherwise. On the contrary, such devices need only transmit to eachother as necessary or desirable, and may actually refrain fromexchanging data most of the time. For example, a machine incommunication with another machine via the Internet may not transmitdata to the other machine for weeks at a time. In addition, devices thatare in communication with each other may communicate directly orindirectly through one or more intermediaries.

A description of an embodiment with several components or features doesnot imply that all or even any of such components and/or features arerequired. On the contrary, a variety of optional components aredescribed to illustrate the wide variety of possible embodiments of thepresent invention(s). Unless otherwise specified explicitly, nocomponent and/or feature is essential or required.

Further, although process steps, algorithms or the like may be describedin a sequential order, such processes may be configured to work indifferent orders. In other words, any sequence or order of steps thatmay be explicitly described does not necessarily indicate a requirementthat the steps be performed in that order. The steps of processesdescribed herein may be performed in any order practical. Further, somesteps may be performed simultaneously despite being described or impliedas occurring non-simultaneously (e.g., because one step is describedafter the other step). Moreover, the illustration of a process by itsdepiction in a drawing does not imply that the illustrated process isexclusive of other variations and modifications thereto, does not implythat the illustrated process or any of its steps are necessary to theinvention, and does not imply that the illustrated process is preferred.

Although a process may be described as including a plurality of steps,that does not indicate that all or even any of the steps are essentialor required. Various other embodiments within the scope of the describedinvention(s) include other processes that omit some or all of thedescribed steps. Unless otherwise specified explicitly, no step isessential or required.

Although a product may be described as including a plurality ofcomponents, aspects, qualities, characteristics and/or features, thatdoes not indicate that all of the plurality are essential or required.Various other embodiments within the scope of the described invention(s)include other products that omit some or all of the described plurality.

An enumerated list of items (which may or may not be numbered) does notimply that any or all of the items are mutually exclusive, unlessexpressly specified otherwise. Likewise, an enumerated list of items(which may or may not be numbered) does not imply that any or all of theitems are comprehensive of any category, unless expressly specifiedotherwise. For example, the enumerated list “a computer, a laptop, aPDA” does not imply that any or all of the three items of that list aremutually exclusive and does not imply that any or all of the three itemsof that list are comprehensive of any category.

Headings of sections provided in this disclosure are for convenienceonly, and are not to be taken as limiting the disclosure in any way.

“Determining” something can be performed in a variety of manners andtherefore the term “determining” (and like terms) includes calculating,computing, deriving, looking up (e.g., in a table, database or datastructure), ascertaining, recognizing, and the like.

A “display” as that term is used herein is an area that conveysinformation to a viewer. The information may be dynamic, in which case,an LCD, LED, CRT, Digital Light Processing (DLP), rear projection, frontprojection, or the like may be used to form the display. The aspectratio of the display may be 4:3, 16:9, or the like. Furthermore, theresolution of the display may be any appropriate resolution such as480i, 480p, 720p, 1080i, 1080p or the like. The format of informationsent to the display may be any appropriate format such as StandardDefinition Television (SDTV), Enhanced Definition TV (EDTV), HighDefinition TV (HDTV), or the like. The information may likewise bestatic, in which case, painted glass may be used to form the display.Note that static information may be presented on a display capable ofdisplaying dynamic information if desired. Some displays may beinteractive and may include touch screen features or associated keypadsas is well understood.

The present disclosure may refer to a “control system” or program. Acontrol system or program, as that term is used herein, may be acomputer processor coupled with an operating system, device drivers, andappropriate programs (collectively “software”) with instructions toprovide the functionality described for the control system. The softwareis stored in an associated memory device (sometimes referred to as acomputer readable medium). While it is contemplated that anappropriately programmed general purpose computer or computing devicemay be used, it is also contemplated that hard-wired circuitry or customhardware (e.g., an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC)) maybe used in place of, or in combination with, software instructions forimplementation of the processes of various embodiments. Thus,embodiments are not limited to any specific combination of hardware andsoftware.

A “processor” means any one or more microprocessors, Central ProcessingUnit (CPU) devices, computing devices, microcontrollers, digital signalprocessors, or like devices. Exemplary processors are the INTEL PENTIUMor AMD ATHLON processors.

The term “computer-readable medium” refers to any statutory medium thatparticipates in providing data (e.g., instructions) that may be read bya computer, a processor or a like device. Such a medium may take manyforms, including but not limited to non-volatile media, volatile media,and specific statutory types of transmission media. Non-volatile mediainclude, for example, optical or magnetic disks and other persistentmemory. Volatile media include DRAM, which typically constitutes themain memory. Statutory types of transmission media include coaxialcables, copper wire and fiber optics, including the wires that comprisea system bus coupled to the processor. Common forms of computer-readablemedia include, for example, a floppy disk, a flexible disk, hard disk,magnetic tape, any other magnetic medium, a CD-ROM, Digital Video Disc(DVD), any other optical medium, punch cards, paper tape, any otherphysical medium with patterns of holes, a RAM, a PROM, an EPROM, aFLASH-EEPROM, a USB memory stick, a dongle, any other memory chip orcartridge, a carrier wave, or any other medium from which a computer canread. The terms “computer-readable memory” and/or “tangible media”specifically exclude signals, waves, and wave forms or other intangibleor non-transitory media that may nevertheless be readable by a computer.

Various forms of computer readable media may be involved in carryingsequences of instructions to a processor. For example, sequences ofinstruction (i) may be delivered from RAM to a processor, (ii) may becarried over a wireless transmission medium, and/or (iii) may beformatted according to numerous formats, standards or protocols. For amore exhaustive list of protocols, the term “network” is defined belowand includes many exemplary protocols that are also applicable here.

It will be readily apparent that the various methods and algorithmsdescribed herein may be implemented by a control system and/or theinstructions of the software may be designed to carry out the processesof the present invention.

Where databases are described, it will be understood by one of ordinaryskill in the art that (i) alternative database structures to thosedescribed may be readily employed, and (ii) other memory structuresbesides databases may be readily employed. Any illustrations ordescriptions of any sample databases presented herein are illustrativearrangements for stored representations of information. Any number ofother arrangements may be employed besides those suggested by, e.g.,tables illustrated in drawings or elsewhere. Similarly, any illustratedentries of the databases represent exemplary information only; one ofordinary skill in the art will understand that the number and content ofthe entries can be different from those described herein. Further,despite any depiction of the databases as tables, other formats(including relational databases, object-based models, hierarchicalelectronic file structures, and/or distributed databases) could be usedto store and manipulate the data types described herein. Likewise,object methods or behaviors of a database can be used to implementvarious processes, such as those described herein. In addition, thedatabases may, in a known manner, be stored locally or remotely from adevice that accesses data in such a database. Furthermore, while unifieddatabases may be contemplated, it is also possible that the databasesmay be distributed and/or duplicated amongst a variety of devices.

As used herein a “network” is an environment wherein one or morecomputing devices may communicate with one another. Such devices maycommunicate directly or indirectly, via a wired or wireless medium suchas the Internet, LAN, WAN or Ethernet (or IEEE 802.3), Token Ring, orvia any appropriate communications means or combination ofcommunications means. Exemplary protocols include but are not limitedto: Bluetooth™ Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA), Code DivisionMultiple Access (CDMA), Global System for Mobile communications (GSM),Enhanced Data rates for GSM Evolution (EDGE), General Packet RadioService (GPRS), Wideband CDMA (WCDMA), Advanced Mobile Phone System(AMPS), Digital AMPS (D-AMPS), IEEE 802.11 (WI-FI), IEEE 802.3, SAP, thebest of breed (BOB), system to system (S2S), or the like. Note that ifvideo signals or large files are being sent over the network, abroadband network may be used to alleviate delays associated with thetransfer of such large files, however, such is not strictly required.Each of the devices is adapted to communicate on such a communicationmeans. Any number and type of machines may be in communication via thenetwork. Where the network is the Internet, communications over theInternet may be through a website maintained by a computer on a remoteserver or over an online data network including commercial onlineservice providers, bulletin board systems, and the like. In yet otherembodiments, the devices may communicate with one another over RF, cableTV, satellite links, and the like. Where appropriate encryption or othersecurity measures such as logins and passwords may be provided toprotect proprietary or confidential information.

Communication among computers and devices may be encrypted to insureprivacy and prevent fraud in any of a variety of ways well known in theart. Appropriate cryptographic protocols for bolstering system securityare described in Schneier, APPLIED CRYPTOGRAPHY, PROTOCOLS, ALGORITHMS,AND SOURCE CODE IN C, John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 2d ed., 1996, which isincorporated by reference in its entirety.

The term “whereby” is used herein only to precede a clause or other setof words that express only the intended result, objective or consequenceof something that is previously and explicitly recited. Thus, when theterm “whereby” is used in a claim, the clause or other words that theterm “whereby” modifies do not establish specific further limitations ofthe claim or otherwise restricts the meaning or scope of the claim.

It will be readily apparent that the various methods and algorithmsdescribed herein may be implemented by, e.g., appropriately programmedgeneral purpose computers and computing devices. Typically a processor(e.g., one or more microprocessors) will receive instructions from amemory or like device, and execute those instructions, therebyperforming one or more processes defined by those instructions. Further,programs that implement such methods and algorithms may be stored andtransmitted using a variety of media (e.g., computer readable media) ina number of manners. In some embodiments, hard-wired circuitry or customhardware may be used in place of, or in combination with, softwareinstructions for implementation of the processes of various embodiments.Thus, embodiments are not limited to any specific combination ofhardware and software. Accordingly, a description of a process likewisedescribes at least one apparatus for performing the process, andlikewise describes at least one computer-readable medium and/or memoryfor performing the process. The apparatus that performs the process caninclude components and devices (e.g., a processor, input and outputdevices) appropriate to perform the process. A computer-readable mediumcan store program elements appropriate to perform the method.

The present disclosure provides, to one of ordinary skill in the art, anenabling description of several embodiments and/or inventions. Some ofthese embodiments and/or inventions may not be claimed in the presentapplication, but may nevertheless be claimed in one or more continuingapplications that claim the benefit of priority of the presentapplication. Applicants intend to file additional applications to pursuepatents for subject matter that has been disclosed and enabled but notclaimed in the present application.

The invention claimed is:
 1. An online gaming system for managing gameplay frequency for a plurality of networked player devices, the onlinegaming system comprising: a processor; and a memory storinginstructions, the instructions adapted to execute on the processor to:receive a call from a player device for an online gaming interface foran online game; transmit a call to a game application server of a gameserver cluster to access programming routines of a game play engine;receive a plurality of positioned game elements for the online gaminginterface; display, at a player device using the online gaminginterface, the plurality of positioned game elements for an onlinesecondary game, wherein each positioned game element is associated witha game time period; display, at the player device using the onlinegaming interface and based on the game play engine, a game indiciaassociated with a positioned game element for the online secondary gameif a game piece is acquired during the game time period associated withthe positioned game element; receive a broadcast feed of selectedpositioned game elements for the online secondary game; select, usingthe online gaming interface, one or more positioned game elements, aftera game duration, based on the broadcast feed; and award, using theonline gaming interface, one or more prizes for the online secondarygame for the selected positioned game elements that are associated witha game indicia.
 2. The online gaming system of claim 1 wherein thepositioned game elements are grid positions.
 3. The online gaming systemof claim 1 wherein the grid positions correspond to a calendar.
 4. Theonline gaming system of claim 1 wherein the game time period is at leastone of an hour, a day, a week, and a month.
 5. The online gaming systemof claim 1 wherein a game piece can be acquired by accessing or playingan online primary game.
 6. The online gaming system of claim 1 whereinthe instructions are further adapted to display the selected positionedgame elements that include associated game indicia and to display theselected positioned game elements that do not include associated gameindicia.
 7. The online gaming system of claim 1 wherein the instructionsare further adapted to allow a player, using the online gaminginterface, to reveal the prizes for the selected positioned gameelements that are associated with game indicia.
 8. An online gamingsystem comprising: a game server cluster comprising a plurality of gameapplication servers configured to provide programming routines of a gameplay engine; a web server configured to provide graphical elements of anonline gaming interface; and an application delivery controller incommunication with a plurality of player devices, the game servercluster, and the web server, the application delivery controllercomprising: a processor; and a memory storing instructions, theinstructions adapted to execute on the processor to: receive, from theweb server, a plurality of positioned game elements for the onlinegaming interface; display, at a player device using the online gaminginterface, a plurality of positioned game elements for an onlinesecondary game, wherein each positioned game element is associated witha game time period; display, at the player device using the onlinegaming interface and based on the game play engine, a game indiciaassociated with a positioned game element for the online secondary gameif a game piece is acquired during the game time period associated withthe positioned game element; select, using the online gaming interface,one or more positioned game elements, after a game duration; and award,using the online gaming interface, one or more prizes for the onlinesecondary game for the selected positioned game elements that areassociated with a game indicia.
 9. The online gaming system of claim 8wherein the positioned game elements are grid positions.
 10. The onlinegaming system of claim 8 wherein the grid positions correspond to acalendar.
 11. The online gaming system of claim 8 wherein the game timeperiod is at least one of an hour, a day, a week, and a month.
 12. Theonline gaming system of claim 8 wherein a game piece can be acquired byaccessing or playing an online primary game.
 13. The online gamingsystem of claim 8 wherein the instructions are further adapted todisplay the selected positioned game elements that include associatedgame indicia and to display the selected positioned game elements thatdo not include associated game indicia.
 14. The online gaming system ofclaim 8 wherein the instructions are further adapted to allow a player,using the online gaming interface, to reveal the prizes for the selectedpositioned game elements that are associated with game indicia.
 15. Anonline gaming system comprising: a game server cluster comprising aplurality of game application servers configured to provide programmingroutines of a game play engine; and an application delivery controllerin communication with a plurality of player devices and with the gameserver cluster, the application delivery controller comprising: aprocessor; and a memory storing instructions, the instructions adaptedto execute on the processor to: transmit a call to a game applicationserver of the game server cluster to access programming routines of thegame play engine; receive a plurality of positioned game elements for anonline gaming interface; display, using the online gaming interface, theplurality of positioned game elements for an online secondary game,wherein each positioned game element is associated with a game timeperiod; display, using the online gaming interface and based on the gameplay engine, a game indicia associated with a positioned game elementfor the online secondary game if a game piece is acquired during thegame time period associated with the positioned game element; receiveselected positioned game elements for the online secondary game; selectone or more positioned game elements; and award, using the online gaminginterface, one or more prizes for the online secondary game for theselected positioned game elements that are associated with a gameindicia.
 16. The online gaming system of claim 15 wherein the positionedgame elements are grid positions.
 17. The online gaming system of claim15 wherein the grid positions correspond to a calendar.
 18. The onlinegaming system of claim 15 wherein the game time period is at least oneof an hour, a day, a week, and a month.
 19. The online gaming system ofclaim 15 wherein a game piece can be acquired by accessing or playing anonline primary game.
 20. The online gaming system of claim 15 whereinthe instructions are further adapted to display the selected positionedgame elements that include associated game indicia and to display theselected positioned game elements that do not include associated gameindicia.
 21. The online gaming system of claim 15 wherein theinstructions are further adapted to allow a player, using the onlinegaming interface, to reveal the prizes for the selected positioned gameelements that are associated with game indicia.